David Bazzel (1963–)

David Bazzel is an Arkansas media personality, public speaker, and sports promoter who came to Arkansas at age seventeen to play football for the Razorbacks at the University of Arkansas (UA) in Fayetteville (Washington County). He later became well known for his morning drive show on radio station KABZ-FM, 103.7, in Little Rock (Pulaski County) and his leadership of the Little Rock Touchdown Club, one of the largest clubs of its type in the country. Bazzel helped elevate Razorback sports to Arkansas’s most prominent cultural institution.

Harold David Bazzel was born on October 13, 1963, in Panama City, Florida, to Carolyn Branch Bazzel and Harold Bazzel. He excelled in athletics, leading his high school football team at A. Crawford Mosley High School to a conference championship. Bazzel led the team in tackles his senior year. As a track athlete his senior year, he finished second in the state in the shot put.

Bazzel was highly recruited by colleges across the country for football and eventually signed with UA head coach Lou Holtz. He moved to Arkansas and has lived in the state ever since. Bazzel competed in four bowl games under Holtz and head coach Ken Hatfield. He was named the most valuable defensive player against Auburn University in the 1984 Liberty Bowl at Memphis, Tennessee. Bazzel finished the game with nine individual and fifteen total tackles while playing with a broken hand suffered in the first quarter. Bazzel was captain of the 1985 defensive unit that set a Southwest Conference record of allowing no rushing touchdowns during the conference season.

After graduation, Bazzel moved from Fayetteville to Little Rock to become marketing director for the first Gold’s Gym franchise in the state. The company grew from one fitness center with five employees to three centers with seventy employees. In 1990, Bazzel left Gold’s to help Dr. J. Roger Clark develop Arkansas Sports Medicine and Orthopedic Center. As development director for the company, Bazzel oversaw completion of a $2 million facility in 1993. Bazzel was honored by the Arkansas High School Athletic Administrators Association with its distinguished service award in 1993.

In 1996, Bazzel formed a consulting company known as Fourth Quarter Productions. He created the Broyles Award, which goes to the top college football assistant coach in the country, that fall. Bazzel named the award in honor of former UA athletic director and head football coach Frank Broyles. The award is presented each December, with five finalists flown to Arkansas for the awards banquet.

Broyles later used Bazzel as a marketing consultant for the UA athletic department. In that role, Bazzel created the Battle for the Boot trophy for the winner of the football game each fall between the Razorbacks and Louisiana State University. Bazzel also worked with Broyles to create a more entertaining atmosphere for fans attending sports events in Fayetteville.

Another prominent client was the Jennings Osborne family of Little Rock. Bazzel helped the family take the Christmas light show that had been at their home on the road to Disney World in Florida and Graceland in Memphis and also handled more than 100 public events across Arkansas at which the Osborne family served barbecue.

Bazzel served from 1991 to 2000 as chairman of the Arkansas Governor’s Council on Fitness. In that role, he founded and directed the Arkansas High School Weightlifting Championships. In the summer of 2004, Bazzel and a group of sixteen other founders started the Little Rock Touchdown Club. By the end of the first season, there were 185 members. By the conclusion of the 2007 season, there were almost 600 members.

Bazzel’s media career began in 1996 when he became the weekend sports anchor for KARK-TV, Channel 4, in Little Rock. In August 1998, Bazzel began working for KATV, Channel 7, in Little Rock; he has continued to attend each Razorback football game for the station. In August 2001, Bazzel was hired by KABZ to co-host an afternoon talk show known as “Drive Time Sports.” In November 2001, he began co-hosting the station’s morning show known as the “Morning Buzz.” Bazzel left the show in 2003 but returned in the fall of 2005 to work alongside Arkansas radio personality Tommy Smith. Bazzel began hosting the four-hour show each Monday through Friday when Smith retired in 2022.

Bazzel has made almost 3,000 public appearances through the years as a speaker, host, and emcee. In 2014, Bazzel was inducted into the Arkansas Sports Hall of Fame. He joined the organization’s board in 2021. In association with the Little Rock Touchdown Club, Bazzel created the Cliff Harris Award for the nation’s top small college football players on defense, the Dan Hampton Award for the top high school and college defensive linemen in Arkansas, the Willie Roaf Award for the top high school and college offensive linemen in Arkansas, and the Darren McFadden Award for the top high school and college running backs in the state.

For additional information:
Bailey, Jim. “The Play Was There, The Score Wasn’t.” Arkansas Gazette, December 28, 1984, p. 1C.

Demirel, Evin. “David Harold Bazzel.” Arkansas Democrat-Gazette, High Profile, November 24, 2013, pp. 1D, 8D.

Holt, Bob. “Take a Bow, Baz.” Arkansas Democrat-Gazette, December 26, 2014, pp. 1C, 6C.

Nelson, Rex. “The Record Speaks for Itself, David Bazzel.” Sporting Life Arkansas. https://www.sportinglifearkansas.com/rex-nelson-the-record-speaks-for-itself-david-bazzel/ (accessed February 22, 2024).

Rex Nelson
Arkansas Democrat-Gazette